The Inca, Aztec, and Moche cultures of pre-Columbian South America killed children during religious ceremonies. The Phoenicians and Carthaginians of the Mediterranean may have practiced infanticide although there is some debate among experts as to whether or not ritual sacrifices actually took place.
However, such sacrifices of children seemed to have vanished hundreds of years ago – until now.
Uganda Centre of Child Sacrifices
In September 2009, Annie Kelly of The Observer reported that, “Uganda has been shocked by a surge in ritualistic murders and human sacrifice, with police struggling to respond and public hysteria mounting at each gruesome discovery.”
The grisly trade is carried on by witch-doctors who claim to be able to guarantee wealth and prosperity through the ceremonial murder of a child. Kelly says more than 300 cases of possible child sacrifice were reported to Ugandan police in 2008.
Mostly, the children are abducted by the witch-doctor’s helpers but there have been cases of parents selling their offspring to be killed.
Ceremony Guarantees Success
A BBC News investigation by Chris Rogers in October 2011 uncovered a witch-doctor who described the ritual.
Posing as developers looking for someone who could guarantee a construction project would be successful the BBC team had little trouble in finding a man called Awali. He told Rogers, “There are two ways of doing this. We can bury the child alive on your construction site. Or we cut the child [and] put their blood in a bottle of spiritual medicine.”
Awali continued to say that male children are decapitated and their genitals cut off. Having mutilated the victim, the body parts are then buried where the building is to be erected. Of course, the witch-doctor charges a substantial fee for this service, although the BBC report does not say how much that is.
Child Sacrifice a New Phenomenon in Uganda
Animal sacrifice has been a common element among many African tribes as a way of bringing success to numerous ventures, such as the building of a house. However, aid agencies are puzzled by the upsurge in child sacrifices in Uganda.
According to Marco Vernaschi, of the Pulitzer Center the practice “has slowly embedded itself within traditional customs, although it is not genuinely related to the local culture. The claim that it falls within Ugandan ‘cultural beliefs’ is just an excuse used by so-called traditional healers to justify their crimes, and by the Ugandan government to avoid taking action.”
The BBC says that despite Uganda having a child sacrifice police task force the families of victims “complain of corruption and slow investigations.”
Charitable organizations, such as The Jubilee Campaign, are trying to bring an end to child sacrifices in Uganda. According to a Jubilee Campaign report in 2010 “The crime of ritual murders (Human sacrifice) reduced by a percentage of 51% with a total of 14 cases registered as compared with 29 registered in 2009.” However, there was an increase in the number of attempted murders connected to witchcraft ceremonies. But, these official figures probably understate the scale of the problem.
The Jubilee report adds that a total of 900 children have been killed in ritual sacrifices since the practice emerged.
Sources
- “Child Sacrifice and Ritual Murders Rise in Uganda as Famine Looms.” Annie Kelly, The Observer, September 6, 2009.
- “Uncovering the Business of Child Sacrifice in Uganda.” Chris Rogers, BBC News, October 11, 2011.
- “Child Sacrifice not a Cultural Issue.” Marco Vernaschi, the Pulitzer Center, April 16, 2010.
- “Child Sacrifice in Uganda.” Jubilee Campaign, 2011.
Rupert Taylor - Rupert Taylor is the editor of a magazine that provides background to current events.
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